Containers for the storage of foods in refrigerator and/or freezer compartments of refrigerator units or in dedicated freezer units is well-known in the art. Such containers are typically made of a glass or plastic material, as these materials are able to operate over a significant range of temperatures. For example, PYREX® is a well-known material that is advertised to assist in food preparation in allowing a PYREX® container to be transferred directly from a refrigerator or freezer to a microwave, a convection or a pre-heated conventional oven to have the contained foodstuffs prepared. PYREX® is a registered trademark of Corning Incorporated, New York. In some applications, plastic containers may similarly be used to take food stuffs in a relatively cold or frozen condition from the refrigerator or freezer, respectively, to the oven.
In some cases, plastic containers have an advantage over glass containers as the plastic containers are lighter to transport and are generally unbreakable.
When the food stuffs are not totally frozen, there arises situations wherein relatively cold food stuffs need to be transferred from one location to another while maintaining the foodstuffs in a relatively cold state. Typically, the food stuffs are placed in thermo containers along with a cooling material (e.g., bags of ice and/or frozen gel packs). The cooling materials generally lower the temperature of the interior compartment of the thermo containers which is maintained for a relatively long time by the thermo-isolation characteristics of the thermo container.
However, the combination of the thermo container and the cooling material increases the weight of transporting the food stuffs.
Hence, there is a need in the industry for a container that provides for maintaining a relatively cold or heated state of contained foodstuffs. In addition, it would be advantageous if the container would be able to allow the contained foodstuffs to be transferred from its relatively cold (or hot) state to the microwave, convection and/or conventional oven, without having to transfer the foodstuffs to a different container.